Cyanide distillations are currently carried out using the classical distillation arrangement. This consists of a large flask (typically one liter), a condenser and for cyanide a receiver flask. Also required, is a vacuum source since air is swept through the flask during the distillation. The sample to be distilled which is typically is a mixture of the cyanide, water and an acidifying agent is usually present in an amount of about 500 ml.
It would be desirable to provide a distillation system which could be carried out in micro apparatus using very small samples so that a large number of these cyanide samples as well as samples of other acidic anions could be processed at the same time.